


buy nine plants and get a sunflower for free

by koushuu



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Flower Shop, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, First Meetings, Fluff, Light Angst, M/M, Past Relationship(s), caring for your plants is a reminder to care for yourself, loyalty cards can be a love language
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-08
Updated: 2020-10-08
Packaged: 2021-03-08 01:21:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,755
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26877367
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/koushuu/pseuds/koushuu
Summary: “I really like you, Omi-san. But if you’re not yet ready, I will wait for you until you are.”“You’re willing to wait for me?”“You are worth more than the cost of patience.”or, the one where sakusa kiyoomi buys a plant every time he misses his ex-boyfriend and meets a clementine-haired florist.
Relationships: Hinata Shouyou/Sakusa Kiyoomi
Comments: 20
Kudos: 225





	buy nine plants and get a sunflower for free

**Author's Note:**

> for omihina week, day 5: angst/flower shop au
> 
> *head in hands* i don't even know what i wrote, i saw flower shop au and i thought of loyalty cards and sunflowers and i blacked out!! i have a tendency to write very long chapters and fics (i have a lot to say ok!!) and the first draft of this was over 5000 words long with no end in sight.... so i tried my very best to condense it into the structure of a "five things" fic, only it's ten things *wheezes*
> 
> anyways, i hope u enjoy and have a happy omihina week <3

##  **one**

Sakusa Kiyoomi stares at the sunflowers in front of him and grimaces behind his mask. Why do sunflowers look so… _loud?_ They’re just too much. Too yellow. Too tall. Too bright. No, this plant is not compatible with Sakusa at all. He sets it back down on the shelf and continues his wander around the flower shop in search of his serotonin-boosting plant.

 _Just buy a plant every time you miss him!_ Sakusa is beginning to doubt his cousin’s advice for getting over his ex-boyfriend. Really, what idiot trusts Komori Motoya willingly?

...Sakusa is that idiot. 

But it’s not as if he has any other people he can ask for advice. His friends? No chance. Sakusa would rather lick a door handle than to trust anything that comes out of Atsumu’s mouth, and Bokuto’s advice is to _Ask Akaashi!_ and this isn’t something that he wants to bother Akaashi for. It is a painful existence to be one of only two people within a friendship group to have common sense. Hint: The other person is Akaashi. 

Though, if he spends any longer looking at the difference between a Philodendron Birkin and a Jade Plant, Sakusa might just be tempted to call him. 

Then a young man with clementine hair and sunshine for a smile steps into view wearing a florist's apron. 

“First time plant owner?”

“Yeah.”

“I’ve got the perfect one for you.”

Sakusa leaves the flower shop with a blue bird succulent and a loyalty card telling him if he buys eight more plants, he’ll get a tenth plant for free. 

##  **two**

Following his decision to buy a plant every time he misses his ex, Sakusa is back at the flower shop a few days after he bought his first plant. And all because after he ordered a hazelnut latte at his usual coffee shop, the woman after him ordered an americano with an extra shot and two sugars - that was his ex’s coffee order. It’s silly, really, how the most trivial of things can remind Sakusa of his ex-boyfriend.

The same young man helps him again, and this time, they chat amicably as they go through individual plants together. He listens intently as the florist introduces each plant to him and what he remembers, he commits to his memory.

“Did you bring your loyalty card?” 

“Yes I di-- oh,” Sakusa frowns as he looks inside his wallet, unable to spot the loyalty card. “I seem to have left it at home.”

But the florist smiles and says, “That’s okay. Just come back and buy another plant and I’ll stamp it twice for you.”

“Is this a scheme just to encourage me to return?”

“That depends, is it working?”

“Only a little,” Sakusa says coyly. That earns him a smile.

Sakusa leaves the flower shop with a spider plant, a lack of a second stamp on his card, and a heart lightened by warm conversation.

##  **three**

His name is Hinata Shouyou, Sakusa learns a week later. A fitting name, he thinks, for someone who embodies pure sunlight. He’s warm, but harsh. He’s bright, but blinding. He’s otherworldly, but human. Hinata is the type of person who stays grounded but reaches for the clouds, the type of person who helps others regardless of the personal cost, but can leave when a situation becomes toxic because he knows his own worth. 

His sunkissed skin, soft amber eyes, and honeyed smile juxtapose the firmness of his muscles and the sharpness of his angular jawline and cheekbones. He has strong, reliable hands which carefully cradle all manners of the earth’s flora and ensures they are rehomed to new wardens. He’s a beautiful enigma.

He’s enchanted and he forgets why he came to the flower shop in the first place.

“Is someone becoming a plant collector?” Hinata teases.

“I think I’m several plants shy of being a collector.”

“Well, if it means seeing more of you here, I don’t mind that at all.” Sakusa coughs and looks away from Hinata. He’s thankful that he wears a mask so that Hinata can’t see the blush that makes its way to his cheeks without his permission. “Was that a bit too much?” Hinata asks, chuckling self-consciously.

“No, it’s fine, I just was caught off guard,” Sakusa tells him.

But Hinata smiles and when he does, Sakusa notices the slight dimples in his cheeks. “I’ll practice my flattery for your next visit. With any luck I’ll become better at it.”

Sakusa leaves the flower shop with a peperomia, a third stamp on his card, and a desire to know more about the clementine-haired florist that calls himself Hinata Shouyou.

##  **four**

It’s raining when he hears their song playing on the radio and Sakusa swallows the bile in his throat, ignoring how sickly it tastes and how it burns. If he thought a coffee order could evoke old memories, a song forces him to relive them. He pulls over to the side of the road and shuts the engine off. Sakusa closes his eyes and presses his forehead against the top of the steering wheel, waiting for the song to end. 

Sakusa can’t bring himself to turn the radio off, not yet. He’s not ready. He’s still bruised. The aftertaste of a goodbye is the worst to get rid of.

 _“You’re just too much for me,”_ is what his ex-lover told him.

What part of Sakusa is too much? He always thought his problem going into a relationship would be that he’s not enough. Not loving enough, not sensitive enough, not spontaneous enough. And yet he’s told that he’s too much. Too proud, too blunt, too uptight. Though, if Sakusa thinks about it, they’re the same thing. He was too much and yet not enough.

When the song ends, he raises his head and breathes deeply, hoping to expel the thick smoke of _his_ absence out of his lungs. Sakusa texts his friends, telling them that he’ll be late for lunch, but they should start without him. He needs to do something first before he can join them. Sakusa turns the ignition on, then drives to the flower shop. Two weeks have passed since his last visit. 

Hinata greets him when he enters but his smile weakens when he sees the paleness of Sakusa’s skin and the dullness in his eyes. He asks what’s wrong but Sakusa doesn’t say, only asks him where a certain plant is. 

Even after Hinata supplies him with his choice of plant, he asks if he can help but Sakusa is resistant. 

“Please let me help you, Omi-san,” Hinata whispers, reaching out for Sakusa’s hand with both hands, his thumbs gently caressing his skin. “You don’t have to suffer alone, I can help.”

But he regrettably pulls his hand away. “I’m not ready to be helped.”

Sakusa leaves the flower shop with a potted lavender, a fourth stamp on his card, and a stampede running across the width of his ribcage, threatening to break it.

##  **five**

Growing up, Sakusa had preconceived ideas of plants, that they were dirty and purposeless since all they did was take up space and eventually die. After all, who would want to bring the outdoors indoors? That’s why plants grow outside, not inside. But it seems he’s wrong. Ever since he began his small collection, he feels more anchored to the ground than before, more stable and rooted. In the rush of city life, Sakusa values the role that plants and nature play in keeping him connected to the natural world. 

It takes a week for the cyclone in his chest to settle enough to allow his heart and mind to communicate clearly. Then he returns to the flower shop. An apology and explanation is in order and he is determined to see it through. Never let it be said that Sakusa Kiyoomi left this half-finished.

But when Sakusa asks Yamaguchi, one of the other florists, after Hinata’s whereabouts, he tells him, “You just missed him. He had the morning shift today and he clocked out about fifteen minutes ago.”

He frowns, doing little to hide the disappointment on his face. But he won’t be deterred. He won’t give up so easily like _someone else_ did.

“If I asked you to pass along a message, would you be able to?” Sakusa asks.

Yamaguchi smiles kindly and nods, then passes a pen and a spare piece of paper to Sakusa. He writes his phone number and leaves a short message asking Hinata if he would like to join him for coffee one day. Then he folds in halves, then quarters, before handing both the note and pen back to Yamaguchi, thanking him for his generosity.

And while he’s here, he might as well buy another plant.

Sakusa leaves the flower shop with a pothos plant, a fifth stamp on his card, and a lack of realisation that it’s the first time he has bought a plant with thoughts of missing Hinata, rather than _him,_ occupying his mind.

##  **six**

A day later, Sakusa receives a text during work which reads: 

> H. SHOUYOU: i’d love to, but i don’t really drink coffee….. how about we have lunch together instead?? how does friday sound?? 😄
> 
> S. KIYOOMI: Sounds wonderful. I’ll pick you up outside the flower shop at 12.
> 
> H. SHOUYOU: i look forward to it 💛

The next three days seem so long and the only thing that makes it bearable are the text conversations exchanged between them. But the days do eventually pass and when Friday comes, Sakusa dresses himself in a black, loose, kimono-esque coat over a simple white t-shirt and slim fit black jeans, with a pair of white sneakers and a dark red cashmere scarf to accessorise and for a pop of colour.

In turn, Hinata wears a woollen, camel coat over a cream turtleneck sweater and a black pair of straight jeans, also pairing it with white sneakers. They chat amicably in the car, or rather, Hinata talks while Sakusa listens with interest. They both pick a ramen restaurant for lunch and are halfway through their meal when Sakusa apologises and explains everything. 

He tells Hinata about his previous relationship and how they parted ways six months ago. Sakusa explains to him how he feels like there should have been more to separation. More screaming, more crying, more feelings. Just _more._ But that’s the problem. Sakusa is too much and he wanted more than his lover was willing to offer.

“Do you think he loved you?”

“I believe he did, in his own way. But he didn’t love me in a way that I could understand.”

Then Hinata smiles and he reaches for Sakusa’s hand across the table and this time, he doesn’t pull away or push the warmth out of his heart. He allows it to stay and make a home there. 

“For him, you might have been too much. But for me, you are enough,” he tells him tenderly and pink blooms in Sakusa’s cheeks, like someone dipped a watercolour paint onto a wet canvas and the colour bleeds across the linen fabric. “I really like you, Omi-san. But if you’re not yet ready, I will wait for you until you are.”

“You’re willing to wait for me?”

“You are worth more than the cost of patience.” 

Those words go through Sakusa like the first breath of spring after winter melts.

They finish their lunch together and return to the florist where Sakusa makes another purchase, though this time, he asks Hinata to choose a plant for him. It takes some careful contemplation, but after considering what plants he already has, Hinata decides on something that draws one’s eye upwards.

Sakusa leaves the flower shop with tillandsia inside a hanging terrarium, a sixth stamp on his card, and a refined sense of hope.

##  **seven**

Unfortunately, Sakusa can’t keep Hinata a secret from his friends for much longer. They already know his name and now, in order to sate his voracious friends and to put all their assumptions to rest, he must introduce him to them. And so after three weeks of suffering their incessant questions, he takes them to the flower shop during the late afternoon on Tuesday, when it’s typically quieter.

After Sakusa, Bokuto enters the shop, his signature “Hey, hey, hey!” which is already loud by nature, is a roar in an otherwise tranquil environment. Akaashi enters after him and apologises for his fiancé’s manners and lovingly reminds Bokuto to remember his vocal volume in public spaces. Then Komori and Atsumu follow after them.

“Hey there! You must be Bokuto-san and Akaashi-san,” Hinata greets, approaching the couple first. “Omi-san’s told me all about you!”

“It’s great to meet you, Hinata!” Bokuto greets cheerfully, smacking Hinata on the back as if they’re old friends despite the fact they’ve only known each other for the space of a single minute. But Hinata doesn’t seem to mind, in fact, he laughs with Bokuto. “I can finally put a face to the name!”

“Same here!” Hinata replies with a bright smile.

“I hope Sakusa-san hasn’t told you anything bad about us,” says Akaashi.

“Oh no, he spoke very highly of you both! It’s Atsumu-san and Komori-san that he spoke with, uhh… less praises,” Hinata says, struggling to find a polite way to describe how Sakusa talks about his cousin and what he describes to be his unfortunate choice of a best friend.

“Don’t believe a word he says, Shouyou-kun!” Atsumu cries out. “Omi-kun is a compulsive liar and is only mad at me because he can never beat me at Mario Kart!”

“He can’t beat me either,” Hinata says with a laugh, stinging Sakusa’s pride a little, but he can allow it if it’s from Hinata.

“Finally, someone who can challenge Atsumu. It’s never fun playing with him because he always wins,” says Komori, earning him a middle finger from Atsumu. He rolls his eyes and turns his attention to Hinata. “I’ve wanted to meet you for so long but for some reason, Kiyo-chan wouldn’t introduce us!” Komori throws a playful glare towards his cousin.

Sakusa narrows his eyes at Komori. “Don’t fall for his bubbly personality, Hinata-kun. He may be as nice as an angel but he’s the devil in disguise.”

“You’re so dramatic, Kiyo-chan!”

As Sakusa predicted, Hinata fits seamlessly into the dynamic of his friendship group. Sakusa never had any doubts, but now, he’ll have to compete for Hinata’s attention because every creature that lives on the earth naturally gravitates to the sun. 

They make plans to have dinner together after Hinata finishes his shift at the shop, and are even willing to stay and keep him company while he takes inventory. Sakusa takes the chance to purchase another plant for his apartment.

Sakusa leaves the flower shop with a calathea, a seventh stamp on his card, and the feeling of comfort and security in the company of friends. 

##  **eight**

It’s strange how a few plants not only improves the overall aesthetic of Sakusa’s previously minimalist apartment, but cleans the air and creates a tangible sense of peace in his home. Though, that could just be the permeating scent of lavender. It no longer looks like the apartment from two months ago. The lingering presence of his ex-lover is cleansed and filtered out and Sakusa can’t find a trace of him left. 

And it's not just the apartment that’s clean, Sakusa is too. He relearns how to care for himself the way he used to care about _him,_ the way he cares for Hinata now.

He can see it, the light at the end of the tunnel, and like a sunflower, he reaches for it, he yearns for it. He’s almost ready to be loved.

Sakusa leaves the flower shop with a snake plant, an eighth stamp on his card, and clean air in his lungs.

##  **nine**

A storm and a power cut traps Hinata and Sakusa in the flower shop when the latter arrives early to collect Hinata from his closing shift. With no lights, they make do with electric candles which they set up around the shop. The warm lights glow against the greenery and the colours of the flowers, looking like a scene from a fantasy. Hinata stands behind the counter, pulling out a log-book where he manually enters the inventory since the computer is out of commission.

Sakusa watches as he works. Hinata is as beautiful as the day he met him. Maybe even more so now. He thinks he should tell him. Yes, he will tell him.

“Shouyou,” Sakusa says, and Hinata looks up at him, “I think you are heavenly.” 

Hinata’s cheeks darken and for a fleeting moment, he thinks he’s gone a step too far. 

“Was that too much?” He asks quietly.

Hinata sets his pen down on the counter and walks over to Sakusa. He reaches up with both hands, cupping Sakusa’s cheeks. His hands are warm and safe.

“Kiyoomi, you will never be too much, you are and always have been and always will be, enough.”

Then they meet halfway in the space between them, lips pressed together in a tentative kiss. 

The following morning, Yamaguchi opens the shop and walks into the office to find Sakusa and Hinata laying on the loveseat, both fast asleep. Sakusa has one arm bent over and around his head, like a kind of pillow, while his other arm holds Hinata, preventing him from falling. Most of Hinata’s body lays on top of Sakusa’s, his head resting in the crook between his shoulder and neck, while Sakusa rests his cheek against his head. 

_They must have waited out the storm,_ Yamaguchi thinks to himself and shakes his head fondly at them. He takes a picture of them, because of course he does - Hinata ends up thanking him for it later - and leaves them to sleep a little longer, closing the door behind him.

It’s a little after nine in the morning when they wake up in each other’s arms. Hinata is the first to greet the morning as he wipes the sleep from his eyes. He turns his head and sees Sakusa, soft and unhurt by the world. Hinata smiles and presses a loving kiss to his cheek, rousing him from sleep.

Sakusa leaves the flower shop with a peace lily, a ninth stamp on his card, and the name _Hinata Shouyou_ seared on his ribcage, a new guardian for his heart.

##  **ten**

Two years have passed since that night in a storm and their love has never waned. They live together and they even adopted a cat and a dog together. They’re content and happy. But one night, when Hinata cries out, “This isn’t a rose, this is a lisianthus! Someone mislabelled these flowers!” Sakusa just _knows_ he has to take the next step and ask this man to marry him. 

With the help of his friends and Yamaguchi’s permission, Sakusa transforms the flower shop into a faerie hollow, replicating that night in a storm. The warm light from the electric candles and tealights in hanging mason jars illuminate the shape and colour of the plants around them. A picnic blanket is spread across an empty spot on the floor, with food laid out and a wine bottle rests in a make-shift ice bucket and a radio connected to Sakusa’s phone plays their song on repeat softly in the background.

“Kiyoomi? What’s going on? Why are there lights-- oh my god…” Hinata gasps lightly when he sees his lover sitting on the blanket, surrounded by florals and nature, two empty wine glasses in hand.

“Did you forget it’s date night?”

“No, but I didn’t think you’d do something like this. Normally we just do something simple.”

“I wanted to put more effort this time.”

“You really know how to raise a bar, don’t you, Omi?” Hinata smiles and against the warm glow of the candles and tealights, Sakusa can see the glossy shine in his eyes. He’s about to cry. Anticipating this, Sakusa holds out a box of tissues, which Hinata gratefully accepts. He joins him on the blanket and they begin their romantic evening together.

They eat, they drink, they laugh, and they love.

When the food is almost all gone and the wine is spent, Sakusa hands Hinata a small card, which he recognises to be the loyalty card that he gave Sakusa when they first met. It has nine stamps, but the tenth was never collected. Hinata supposes that he never needed to, not after they started dating. Hinata gave him plants and flowers as gifts and when they moved in, Hinata’s plants also became Sakusa’s plants.

“I need to collect my free plant,” Sakusa tells him.

Hinata gestures around them. “Well, take your pick.”

“I already have.”

“Huh?”

Sakusa smiles and he walks over behind the counter and picks up a beautiful bouquet of sunflowers, cradling them in one arm as he sits back down next to Hinata.

Now Hinata is more confused. “But I thought you don’t like sunflowers…” He mumbles.

“You’re wrong. I love sunflowers because they remind me of you.” Hinata blushes at that. To be compared to a flower is a tender thing. “Turn the card around,” Sakusa tells him.

He does.

 _Will you marry me?_ is penned in beautiful kanji and it takes his breath away.

When Hinata looks up, Sakusa is down on one knee, cradling sunflowers in one hand and holding a silver ring in the other. It’s not just a ring he offers, but it’s him, all of Sakusa, all that he is and all he will be.

“I don’t have a grand speech prepared, but what I can tell you is that I love you. I loved you yesterday, I love you today, and if you’ll give me the delight of being your husband, I will love you until I meet you in the next life, and then I will love you in that too.”

Hinata’s heart is so tender and warm that if Sakusa says anything, he might just melt. So he gives him his answer.

“Of course it’s a yes, it’s nothing but a yes,” he whispers, as if he doesn’t want to shatter the moment. Hinata reaches forward and allows himself to be enveloped into a loving embrace, before Sakusa gently pulls him up into a kiss.

The following morning, Hinata and Sakusa leave the flower shop, hand in hand, with a bouquet of sunflowers and a tenth stamp on the card that began a love story.

**Author's Note:**

> and that's it!! also i intentionally left the identity of sakusa’s ex a mystery so it could be anyone. pls let me know via kudos or comment or leave something in my [curiouscat](https://curiouscat.qa/kouushu) if u enjoyed it!!
> 
> and if u wanna join me in sobbing abt omihina and hq generally, i'm [twitter](https://twitter.com/kouushu) !!


End file.
